Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her

DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Characteristic line: "Leave her, Johnny, leave her... And it's time for us to leave her." Tells of the troubles on the voyage and of what Johnny can hope for as the ship arrives in port. Some versions have a chorus
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Robinson)
KEYWORDS: shanty sailor separation return
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,SW) Ireland Australia Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (22 citations):
Doerflinger-SongsOfTheSailorAndLumberman, pp. 89-90, "Time for Us to Leave Her (Leave Her, Johnny)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Walton/Grimm-Windjammers-SongsOfTheGreatLakesSailors, pp. 48-49, "Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bone-CapstanBars, pp. 135-136, "Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord-SongsOfAmericanSailormen, pp. 119-121, "Leave Her, Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow-ChantyingAboardAmericanShips, pp. 99-100, "Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas, pp. 293-298, "Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her" (5 texts, 2 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 218-221]
Hugill-SongsOfTheSea, p. 40, "Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkChanteys, II-III, pp.3-4, "Leave Her Johnny" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 129, "I thought I heard the old man say" (1 short text)
Shay-AmericanSeaSongsAndChanteys, pp. 86-87, "Time to Leave Her" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kinsey-SongsOfTheSea, pp. 61-62, "Leave Her Johnny"; pp. 135-136, "Leave 'er, Johnny, Leave 'er" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Fahey-Eureka-SongsThatMadeAustralia, pp. 46-47, "Leave Her, Jollies, Leave Her" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 412, "Leave Her, Bullies, Leave Her" (2 texts, 1 tune; the "A" text, which is this song, is very short; the "B" text is "Across the Western Ocean")
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 135-137, "Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AmericanFolksongsOfProtest, p. 233, ("Leave Her, Johnny") (1 text)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H53b, p. 96, "It's Time for Us to Leave Her" (1 text, 1 tune -- a fragment, short enough that it could be this or "Across the Western Ocean")
Palmer-OxfordBookOfSeaSongs 103, "Leave he, Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Foner-AmericanLaborSongsOfTheNineteenthCentury, p. 78, "Leave Her, Johnny" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 97, "Leave Her, Johnny" (1 text)
DT, LEAVEHER* LEAVHER2*
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). A fragment called "Tis Time for Us to Leave Her" is in Part 4, 8/4/1917.
Frederick Pease Harlow, _The Making of a Sailor, or Sea Life Aboard a Yankee Square-Rigger_, 1928; republished by Dover, 1988, pp. 280-281, "Leave Her Johnny, Leave Her" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #354
RECORDINGS:
Leander Macumber, "Leave Her Johnny, Leave Her" (on NovaScotia1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Across the Western Ocean" (floating lyrics; tune)
NOTES [55 words]: According to Walton/Grimm-Windjammers-SongsOfTheGreatLakesSailors, this shanty was saved for the last duty of a voyage: Pumping out a ship after she reached port and was unloaded. Since the sailors wanted to get ashore, this was considered a particularly unpleasant task -- hence this song, about getting away from the work. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: Doe089

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